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Two-thirds of the way through its fiscal year, the city of Alexandria’s tax revenue is higher than expected, but so are some expenses, especially employees’ health insurance claims.

The city is self-insured for health expenses of its employees. The initially budgeted amount of $7 million for health insurance claims for fiscal 2015-16 has been revised upward to $9.9 million to reflect the rate at which claims are coming in.

“Claims are way up,” Mayor Jacques Roy said.

The higher amount is among the changes to the budget approved by the City Council this week through the Major Budget Amendment.

The MBA, as its referred to by the city, is used to get the projected budget that was approved last spring more in sync with actual revenues and expenditures about two-thirds of the way through the fiscal year.

The MBA reflects projections for the 2015-16 budget based on actual revenue and expense totals in December. The 2016-17 fiscal year will begin May 1.

Overall, the city’s finances are in good shape, according to Roy.

The amended General Fund grew to $65.67 million from the originally adopted $60.86 million, thanks in large part to sales tax and property tax revenues running ahead of what had been budgeted, according to a “fact sheet” provided by the administration to the City Council.

The adjusted projected revenue from city sales taxes grew by $2.8 million in the MBA, increasing from $27.6 million to $30.4 million. The city’s share of the parish sales tax is projected to climb from $7.6 million to $8.3 million.

The revised ad valorem (property) tax revenue is now projected at $3.75 million, up $490,000 from the originally budgeted $3.26 million.

City Court fees and fines are running below original projections and are revised at a total of $598,000, which is $36,000 under the original budget.

On the expense side of the General Fund, the largest change is $2.12 million in additional funds being transferred to the Employee Benefits Fund. That money will help cover the increase in expenses for health insurance claims.

The Employee Benefits Fund also gets $1.05 million in a transfer from the Utility Fund.

Other increases in expenditures in the adjusted General Fund include an extra $752,000 for Transfer to Risk Management Fund, an additional $444,000 for the Small Business Incubator and $286,000 more for Transfer to Zoo Fund.

Overall, the city has been able to reduce the amount of general revenue used to prop up the Alexandria Zoo’s finances in the most recent two fiscal years because of a 6-mill property tax passed by voters in May 2014. That tax provides about $1.1 million annually to the zoo and a similar amount for recreation.

Still, the zoo is scheduled to get $1.28 million in revenue through transfers from the General Fund. That is added to $1.13 million from the property tax and $560,000 in self-generated funds for the Zoo Fund’s overall budget of about $2.96 million.

The adjusted General Capital Projects Fund reflects previously unbudgeted funds from other government agencies, including $1.61 million for the Masonic Drive RCB Extension, $850,000 for Levee Park Amphitheatre improvements and $380,000 for Alexandria Riverfront Center improvements.

The revised Utility Fund budget takes into account lower fuel costs and lower revenue because those savings are passed on to customers.

The fund’s revenue category for Charge for Service-Fuel Cost has been reduced by $6 million to $39.48 million. On the flip side, expenditures for Purchases-Direct Energy and Purchases-Other Energy has been reduced by $6 million from a total of $40 million to $34 million.

Purchases for fuel for the city’s Bayou Cove generator are projected to drop from $3 million to $2 million.

The revenue from the sale of natural gas distributed to customers is estimated to rise by $2 million over the original budget, from $8 million to $10 million, but that $2 million will go directly for purchasing natural gas.

Also at its meeting Tuesday, the City Council authorized the mayor to enter into a cooperative endeavor with the Alexandria Genealogical Society.

The move authorizes providing up to $15,000 for the group’s historical preservation efforts.

The council also introduced an ordinance to change the number of members of the Alexandria Historic Preservation Commission from 15 to seven. That ordinance will be discussed in committee before going to the council for a final vote.

Councilmen also said last weekend’s Mardi Gras parades in Alexandria were a success, and they praised the parade-related efforts of the Alexandria Mardi Gras Association as well as city employees, firefighters and police officers.